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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
Review: story of young boy who is idling away his time and wasting his money on irrelevant things until he met a girl in Mahatma Gandhi's ashram when he visited his village. He went there and fall in love with girl and then enroll himself to be near her. Time pass he became devoted follower and later news flash Gandhi ji got jailed and his love to and a terrorist make him do some deeds that's are not gandhian way of protest , blast and write on wall of people , protest against rich and influencial people, and later got jailed and only got bailed after Independence ,for all the things he did is to wait for Mahatma Gandhi's permission because girl consider her as her own father but on the he permitted , Mahatma Gandhi got murdered
आर के नारायण को पढ़ना गुनगुने पानी में स्नान जैसा आनद देता है। इस किताब का पहला आधा हिस्सा बहुत ही अच्छा लगा और उसके बाद कहानी थोड़ी धीमी हो गयी। किताब बहुत ही सुंदर है।
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
simple and beautiful
Just like other R. K. Narayan books, Waiting for the Mahatma takes place in a quaint fictional town of Malgudi in Tamil Nadu. Set in the 1940s, we get a glimpse of the freedom movement in India— from Quit India movement to its Independence; particularly South India's freedom movement, of which hardly anything is mentioned in our history books.
The story is about an orphan boy Sriram who is raised by his grandmother. He's a spoiled brat who spends his days idling away in the luxury of his home, splurging on the savings in the local bank. His days merge into months and months into years until one day everything gets shaken up by a storm named Bharati. He's absolutely smitten by her.
She's spirited, witty, infuriating, condescending to the moonstruck Sriram and someone who is driven to achieve her goal— to follow Bapu's word to the letter. Sriram pursues Bharati to the Gandhi camp and from here on we see him transform from a lethargic, aimless individual to someone giving up his comforts to actively participate in the freedom movement and even going to jail. ( Wow! The extent boys would go to win over girls. Can you imagine?
The story is about an orphan boy Sriram who is raised by his grandmother. He's a spoiled brat who spends his days idling away in the luxury of his home, splurging on the savings in the local bank. His days merge into months and months into years until one day everything gets shaken up by a storm named Bharati. He's absolutely smitten by her.
She's spirited, witty, infuriating, condescending to the moonstruck Sriram and someone who is driven to achieve her goal— to follow Bapu's word to the letter. Sriram pursues Bharati to the Gandhi camp and from here on we see him transform from a lethargic, aimless individual to someone giving up his comforts to actively participate in the freedom movement and even going to jail. ( Wow! The extent boys would go to win over girls. Can you imagine?
Waiting for the Mahatma was in some words, a gamble. But then again, Narayan has often chosen difficult subjects, what with infidelity in the Guide and misplaced patriotism in this particular novel.
You can almost imagine Sri Ram as a walking talking entity in today's political scenario. Sri Ram would be a man-boy who is busy updating his status on Facebook from 'At the movies' to 'having lunch at KFC with mah buddiez' and wondering whether he should buy an iPhone 6 or the latest Nexus. Everything changes when he sees a girl who is the manifestation of all things amazing- working with an NGO, theatre on the side and a hot body with a pretty face to top it off. But our Sri doesn't know 2 cents about all this NGO business-- so what, he can try. Oh yes.
In the book, Sri Ram is not patriotic. He is lazy, unambitious and unconcerned with the affairs of the world. He has never thought about anything more significant than what to waste his inheritance on. He is unconcerned with the freedom struggle that is sweeping the nation, until he sets his eyes on Bharati who works with Mahatma Gandhi. Who is this Mahatma dude? What does he even want? Why is my 'bae' so fond of him? Why is this skinny man clad only in a dhoti so influential and awe inspiring? Screw it, imma make a move- Yasss she wants it. Oh No, she went to jail. Oh no, I am a semi terrorist. Oh no, I am in jail. Such are his woes.
R K Narayan's books are known for their humanism and realistic touch. Though this book was force....prescribed reading in college and I had to read it 3 times because I couldn't really get into it (no one likes to read books that they are forced to read. C'mon), I cannot deny the sheer simplicity and reality of this work.
The unconcernedness of Sri Ram with politics, his curiosity on the weirdness of the freedom movement, his inability to actually give a rat's ass about the movement, his love (infatuation?) for Bharati, the impact of Gandhi's magnetic charm and the terrorist dude's sly words on Sri Ram are all so natural that one does not question the realism of the story.
R K Narayan does make his characters as real as the sweat bead sliding down Bharati's waist. (No, this is not a real quote from the novel, but its not too far from it either)
You can almost imagine Sri Ram as a walking talking entity in today's political scenario. Sri Ram would be a man-boy who is busy updating his status on Facebook from 'At the movies' to 'having lunch at KFC with mah buddiez' and wondering whether he should buy an iPhone 6 or the latest Nexus. Everything changes when he sees a girl who is the manifestation of all things amazing- working with an NGO, theatre on the side and a hot body with a pretty face to top it off. But our Sri doesn't know 2 cents about all this NGO business-- so what, he can try. Oh yes.
In the book, Sri Ram is not patriotic. He is lazy, unambitious and unconcerned with the affairs of the world. He has never thought about anything more significant than what to waste his inheritance on. He is unconcerned with the freedom struggle that is sweeping the nation, until he sets his eyes on Bharati who works with Mahatma Gandhi. Who is this Mahatma dude? What does he even want? Why is my 'bae' so fond of him? Why is this skinny man clad only in a dhoti so influential and awe inspiring? Screw it, imma make a move- Yasss she wants it. Oh No, she went to jail. Oh no, I am a semi terrorist. Oh no, I am in jail. Such are his woes.
R K Narayan's books are known for their humanism and realistic touch. Though this book was force....prescribed reading in college and I had to read it 3 times because I couldn't really get into it (no one likes to read books that they are forced to read. C'mon), I cannot deny the sheer simplicity and reality of this work.
The unconcernedness of Sri Ram with politics, his curiosity on the weirdness of the freedom movement, his inability to actually give a rat's ass about the movement, his love (infatuation?) for Bharati, the impact of Gandhi's magnetic charm and the terrorist dude's sly words on Sri Ram are all so natural that one does not question the realism of the story.
R K Narayan does make his characters as real as the sweat bead sliding down Bharati's waist. (No, this is not a real quote from the novel, but its not too far from it either)
3.5 stars. I did like the story and the backdrop of Indian independence, Sriram and his boyish ways that finally find a channel through Bharti. But for me the book dragged in a couple of places. This does not take away from the fact that it was a good book but I preferred The Guide (also by Narayan) more to this.
Some remarkable quotes here and there, but nothing else stood out for me.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Now that I'm in StoryGraph I can finally give it the stars it deserves: zero.